Simmering Frustrations of Malaysian Indians with the UMNO-Led Government's Handling of Race Issues

Unprecedented street protests by ethnic Indians have opened up a new faultline in Malaysia's tense race relations, posing a major problem for the government as it faces elections, analysts said today.

Political observers in the multicultural nation, where minority Indians and ethnic Chinese live alongside the dominant Malay Muslim community, said the ugly scenes at Sunday's rally represented a new era of racial activism.

"It is quite clear we will have an emboldened community willing to fight for their rights. It's almost a renaissance or a rebirth," said leading commentator Charles Santiago.

"The Indians have become alienated and that has basically transformed the nature of resistance," said political analyst P Ramasamy, noting that ethnic Indian professionals were well represented at the protest.

"The character of struggle has changed. It has taken on a Hindu form - Hinduism versus Islam. And this is something that should not have taken place in a multi-racial society."

Ramasamy said he was certain there would be more protests, raising the spectre of serious racial violence - not seen since 1969 and something all sides on Malaysia's political scene are desperate to avoid.

"I think it's very clear the MIC cannot speak on behalf of the Indian community any more," Ramasamy said. "Elections are around the corner and whether their majority will be reduced we will see."

Ordinary Malaysian Indians interviewed Monday defended the protests saying they were forced onto the streets by a government which had ignored their grievances for decades.

"I think its a stepping stone for a better future, although change may not come overnight," communications executive Thavamalar Muniandy told AFP in the capital's ethnic Indian Brickfields district.

"In my opinion the protest achieved its objective - we got the world to focus on us and the government can no longer ignore our concerns," said 24-year-old law student Sivamalar Ganapathy.

A retiree who gave his name as Subramanian said that since the 1960s conflict, which pitted Chinese against Malays fearful of marginalisation, the nation had focused too much on elevating majority Muslims.

"Sadly, we were often neglected in the process of development and side-tracked," he said.

"I'm sad to see that even after 50 years of independence we have to resort to such measures to express our dissatisfaction in a civilised country."